Daily industrial news and top headlines for plant and maintenance managers

NASA's commercial crew program manager, Kathy Lueders, says the average price for a seat aboard the SpaceX Dragon and Boeing CST-100 capsules will be $58 million. That compares with $71 million a seat charged by Russia under its latest NASA contract.

Forklift fleets offer significant opportunities for warehouses and distribution centers to improve their eco-efficiency. One way is to convert from forklifts powered by internal combustion (IC) to electric lift trucks.

A year after an explosion ripped apart the JNS Biofuel plant, the rebuilt plant in New Albany has all the permits it needs to reopen. However, state and local officials don't know when that will happen.

Amid strong Republican gains in statehouses nationwide in recent years, debates over "right-to-work" legislation have generally been the most prominent union-related issues. Right-to-work laws have an immediate impact on manufacturing through operations and costs, but the federal prevailing wage law, will also effect the manufacturing of supplies on the site of qualifying projects.

This week our ‘Winner and Loser’ is assigned to two companies in very different places. Microsoft announced new and innovative technology which has earned them the winning slot of the week. However, BP is back in federal court facing fines for the 2010 oil spill, earning them the losing slot.

Going against the gluten-free fad, Portland, Oregon-based Dave's Killer Bread has gained legions of fans for its seeded, nutritious sandwich lovers. Now it has plans to expand to every state in the U.S. by the end of 2015.

A federal judge this week struck down a New Mexico county's fracking ban in one of a growing number of regulatory fights over the controversial method of extracting natural gas and oil from deep rock underground.